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My skirmish over a federal judge and porn

In 2008, the Los Angeles Times published a response I made to the news that federal judge Alex Kozinski – a tireless defender of liberty in the 9th Circuit Court – had had his private file server hacked, which revealed that it contained pornographic images.

I just read an editorial written a couple of weeks ago that’s still talking about it. It seems people just can’t get over this. An important judge has seen other people naked. Is that so outrageous?

It made me think of the skirmish I had in the Los Angeles Times over the issue. First, a federal defender, Lara A. Bazelon, wrote an opinion in the paper calling Kozinski’s actions “misconduct”. The Times then published my response to her. Then, she responded publicly to me in the paper, along with a Brigham Young student called Amy Payne. I responded to both a final time on my own site rather than in the Times, despite being offered the chance for a rebuttal, because I felt the news cycle had moved on by then and people would become bored (you’ve got to be a good editor!).

For those who are interested, here is an index of the dust-up, so you can read for yourself. Click on any of the stories to get started.